The Story of Together
by Taygeta
Summary: Post-Mockingjay. Peeta and Katniss' children are teenagers. They thought they had a tough enough time teaching their kids about the Hunger Games - that is, until they had to teach them about the story of their love and those that came before them. Star-crossed lovers? If only it was that easy. Also features Mrs. Everdeen, Gale, and Finnick's son.
1. Chapter 1 - Love and Shadows

**Chapter 1 - Love and Shadows**

By Taygeta

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**Disclaimer:** The characters are not mine.

**Author's Note:** My first go at Hunger Games fanfiction!

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She has my hair...and my attitude.

I watched as she stormed out of the house, her single, dark braid flying behind her. The bang of the door rang in my left ear...and I almost wished the Capitol hadn't reconstructed it so well so many years earlier. Perhaps they didn't anticipate that I might have a teenaged daughter.

Then again, I never anticipated I would have a teenaged daughter.

I looked up to see a pair of suppressed smiles in the kitchen.

"Don't you even dare," I said. "Either of you."

Peeta pursed his lips, his left hand covering his mouth in an attempt not to laugh and thereby further meet my contempt. He could laugh after all, he got along with our daughter without any problems. They understood each other in that same way that my father and I did. And, of course, while I teetered on the edge of fear with every step, he had embraced her whole-heartedly, always expressing to her how so very glad he was that she was alive.

He was always better at words than I could ever be.

Of course, my mother decided that it was the perfect time to visit today. After my children had been born, she had cause to return to District 12, reason to rise up from the sadness of losing Prim and my father. She had spent the last fifteen years working at the hospital in town and though she was nearing 70, she was still the no-nonsense head of the clinic.

There was something in her eyes that flickered, seemed to convey some kind of last laugh. I hadn't been exactly out of hand when I was fifteen given the darker circumstances - and my attitude saved us when she let go of everything, but there was a kind of blindness I carried in what I did. I realize now that I didn't quite understand my mother until I found out for myself what she had gone through...that darkness, the fury, the loss. It was no excuse for her turning away from us, but I know now that I could have been kinder.

But what could I say or do for my own daughter? Madge Primrose Everdeen-Mellark was quite aware of what struggles came before her, but there was nothing to reign in her attitude. No level of desperation that kept her head above water. She always seemed to swim from one mood swing to another without any reason and without any kind of escape.

"Katniss, you need to give her space," said Peeta.

"All I did was ask her how her day went!" I said.

"Well she probably thought you were prying," he replied in a tone that made me suspicious.

"What do you know that I don't?" I automatically asked.

Though the question was directed toward Peeta, my mother responded, "Katniss, don't you know a broken heart when you see one?"

I looked at my mother and Peeta, replying honestly as the world's worst mom: "I didn't even know she liked anyone..."

* * *

I sat on the sofa after dinner. Madge still hadn't arrived home and my mother had left to check in on a few in-home patients. I absorbed the quiet as I watched the setting sun coat the sitting room with yellow and orange hues. Even after all this time, I can't separate Peeta from the colors of the sunset.

I heard the floorboards creak, the familiar uneven gait of Peeta, trying unsuccessfully to walk into the living room quietly.

"Should we go out and find her?" I asked.

"She'll come home when she's good and ready," he replied sitting beside me. His arm wrapped around me, and I automatically brought my hand to entangle with his.

"I'm a terrible mom," I said sullenly, looking up at him.

He laughed, "No, you're not. When you were her age and you thought about Gale, you didn't shout it out to the rooftops of District 12, did you? I bet you didn't even tell your mother."

"No," I begrudgingly admitted, "but that's not a very fair comparison, Mr. 'I'm willing to confess my crush on a girl over national television before I even tell her'."

"I also loved you since I was five," he said looking at me squarely, "so I had plenty of time to be sure." On this note, he kissed me, maintaining his gaze when he pulled away, "I also thought I didn't have much time left for anything."

There was a silence between us, a silence that always arose when we talked about the Games.

I finally said, "I think a part of me just doesn't understand what it means to be where our children are."

"What do you mean?"

"You grew up on stale bread. I learned how to hunt and trade at the Hob. I mean, yes, we survived the Hunger Games and the uprisings. And you - you with everything..." I pressed my fingers to his forehead so grateful that the flashbacks were so rare now. "We can't unsee those things - we can't unlive them. But they - they never have and I am grateful, but..."

"But you're worried," he said knowingly. "That it's more to it than helping them to understand the past and never repeat it. I know - I worry about that all the time."

"But you, you make it look so easy," I laughed.

"It's not easy, Katniss. I want our children to be grateful - to appreciate all that we appreciate without having to go through what we've gone through - but in the end, I think it's just important that they know we love them and that they can trust us."

I nod taking in his words and letting myself enjoy the quiet moment with his arms around me. I feel him kiss the top of my head before whispering in my ear, "I really did mean what I said all those years ago. You *are* a wonderful mom."

Just when I felt comfortable hearing it, the door slammed again. Peeta and I both looked up to see our daughter pause to look at us. She had obviously been crying, her hair was a messy braid and she had somehow remembered to bring a ratty sweater when she had stormed out earlier.

She took a sharp breath as she took us in and said, "How am I EVER supposed to find someone when I have to live in the shadow of YOU TWO?!"

At that point, she stomped upstairs in a teary mess.

I looked at Peeta and he looked at me.

I always have to give Peeta credit for always knowing what to say: "Guess I'm not exactly getting the Father of the Year award either."


	2. Chapter 2 - Star-Crossed Lovers

**Chapter 2 - Star-Crossed Lovers**  
By Taygeta

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**Disclaimer:** These characters are not mine.

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Like the wonderful mom that I am, I let Peeta go in first and I stayed outside eavesdropping. It's a pretty easy choice when the cost of it is a playful scowl.

"Sweetheart?" I heard him say, knocking on her door.

It wasn't the sarcastic Haymitch-imitating "Sweetheart" from our arena days. It was a soft kind of fatherly way - how I sometimes think Haymitch would say it to his own daughter, if his life had ended up differently. Haymitch would have a good laugh at this - if he wasn't likely stone drunk in the house across the way. There are some things time can't quite change.

"Go away!" I heard her yell.

"Not until you tell us what's going on."

I looked at him at the word "us". He kept his eyes trained at the door, pretending to not feel my stare.

I took a deep breath and said, "Madge? You know you can talk to us, right? Especially when you think we've done something..." I swallowed hard before I could say the word, "...wrong."

Now Peeta looked at me with eyebrows raised. If there was one thing I hated - and perhaps this is where my daughter and I met eye-to-eye - is the thought that I am wrong. Or at the very least, that I might have to admit it.

Truth be told, I didn't see how I did anything wrong with a melodramatic teenager locking herself in her room after drama queen outbursts all day, but there was something about what she said...about me and Peeta that definitely seemed to require explanation and even I was willing to give some ground to find out why.

After some silence, the door creaked open slightly and we heard her flounce back into bed.

Peeta and I walked in. I felt as if I was hunting a rabbit and wondering if I was stirring a wild dog in my tracks at the same time. Maybe a teenager was a kind of mutt in that way - part cute fluffy rabbit until the moment it decides to turn on you.

Peeta thoughtfully scooped up the box of tissues that sat on the dresser as he walked in. He handed them to her as if offering her a sign of peace, "You want one of these?"

I, out of habit perhaps, merely came in with my wits...having no idea if they'd be enough.

She sniffled, grabbing a few tissues and dabbing her eyes. Her tears caused her blue eyes to glisten, making her face look younger and reminding me of the little girl that would once fall asleep on my lap after begging to be read another story from our book of memories. They were Peeta's eyes, but in their innocence I saw Prim and I saw Rue and I couldn't help but think how neither of them had lived to Madge's age.

Even my daughter's namesake barely passed fifteen.

These memories often took a hold of me without warning and I had to shake them off to focus on the task at hand, on the person that was living and breathing. She was a part of me and Peeta who I loved more than I could ever express and who I desperately wish understood that love even in times like these. I don't doubt the importance of any moment in her life - her first skinned knees, the nervousness of the first day of school, the trepidation and exhilaration on the day I took her on her first archery lesson, the trepidation and exhilaration of young love - I can't help but sink my mind to darker days and sleepless nights I still have...and if those days should ever come, I would want her to know of my love...of our love for her.

Her brother, it turns out, would always be a little bit easier. He was so much more charismatic and free. Landon Finnick should have perhaps been known for his middle name more than his first. Perhaps it was all the time he spent under Finnick's son's guidance, but there was an ease about him that reflected a mix of Peeta's kindness and Finnick's charm. He accepted our love without question and expressed that he loved us without any need for words.

But Madge...Madge was like a bird of unexpected song and you never knew what might cause her to sing...or to shriek.

"So...what happened?" asked Peeta, sitting on the edge of the bed, petting her matted hair. His eyes flitted up at me for a second.

It was almost like a Caesar Flickerman interview. I was letting him do most of the talking as I sat myself down on the chair by the bed.

She sniffled some more before talking more into her pillow than to us: "Today at school, we were learning about the Hunger Games."

"Well you've learned plenty about the Hunger Games," I said trying to be reassuring. If this had to do with the Games, I might be able to handle it better. "We've told you stories your whole life - as best as we could."

She lifted her face from the pillow, "But you didn't tell me this part."

I glanced at Peeta with a confused expression. She was old enough now that we were very truthful about the details, withholding enough that she didn't have nightmares but understanding perhaps why we had our own.

"What part?" he asked.

"The whole star-crossed lovers thing."

Star-crossed - ?!

Looking at our blank expressions, she continued, "It's true, isn't it? I saw the interview videos from the archives. I saw dad tell you he had that crush on you and the clips from your first Hunger Games."

"How did you see all that?" I asked. "Why would they even teach you about that?"

For obvious reasons, Peeta and I are on the Education Council about the history of Panem and the Hunger Games specifically. We thought it was our responsibility, even before we had our children, that we know what was being taught and what was being said. On one level, we didn't want too much of the truth and the grit to be lost. On another, we knew we had to be delicate about telling younger children too much too soon. We helped structure the entire program by grade level. While eventually there was a brief mentioning of us having ended up together and residing in District 12, the idea of star-crossed lovers had long faded into the theatrical Hunger Games past...or so we thought.

"Our new history teacher Julie Cartwright Wallace thinks that we need to learn about the story of people's lives too, beyond the general facts in the Game and the basic biographies. She said that you two were some of her favorite figures in the war and that her mother spent a lot of time telling her stories about the both of you."

"Julie _Cartwright_Wallace?" asked Peeta.

"As in Delly Cartwright's daughter?" I asked. Delly had married a citizen of District 13, but had resettled in District 12 not too many years after - having several kids with blonde hair and pudgy faces that seem to exist in every little facet of town life.

Madge nodded. Her story telling of her school day seemed to overshadow what had elicited her strong emotions earlier and she continued, "Today's class was all about both of you...about how your love carried on despite everything. How dad loved you since the day he saw you and how you fell in love with him in the Games."

"And there were video clips of this?" I asked.

"They have them on archive and Miss Wallace got special permission from the Headmaster to show it to our class as part of her lesson." She paused as if worried she had gotten Miss Wallace in trouble, "But don't worry - it wasn't any of the gruesome things. Just about you and Dad." Then her face made a sudden twist as if trying very much to hold her tongue.

"Madge..." I said. "What else?"

She said the next phrase really quickly, hiding in her pillow, but the words "Gale Hawthorne" stuck out.

"Madge...?"

She looked up and said, "And the part where you and Gale Hawthrone were once...friends."

Gale Hawthorne. That name will never go away I supposed - after all, he was a bit of a celebrity now after countless appearances on television right after the war. His dashing good looks continued on today. His dark hair, though slightly gray on the edges, and his piercing eyes often looked at me through that television set. But he long ago stopped being the boy who was my hunting partner and my confidant.

"Well..." Peeta began slowly. "I think Miss Wallace might have been a bit more cautious about her selection of lecture material knowing that you were in the classroom. But you know that your mother and I went through a lot and that we love each other very much. And yes, your mother and Gale were once very close, but that was a long time ago."

His eyes flickered up at me again and in my head I could hear a younger part of him say, "...and yet not long enough."

He continued without pause, "But what on earth about any of it could make you upset?"

"Star-crossed lovers?!" she wailed. "Love at first sight? Destiny?! You both saving each other's lives time and time again?! These are things in my novels! They're not supposed to be real - not supposed to be my parents...and the moment...the moment..."

She began to sob again. Most days I might be annoyed, but I could tell that I wasn't supposed to be annoyed at this moment. So instead of leaning on Peeta, I reached out and pet her hair, asking her softly, "The moment what?"

"The moment Grady heard all of these stories he completely ignored me after school."

Grady?

"What makes you think that had anything to do with class?" asked Peeta reasonably.

"Because later he told Michelle that it was too much pressure to like a girl who was the daughter of Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen - that any boy who would take that on was crazy."

And then she burst out into tears.


	3. Chapter 3 - Truths & Other Crazy Things

**Chapter 3 - Truths & Other Crazy Things **

by Taygeta

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**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the characters.

**Author's Note:** I'm trying to reign in the angsty teen - please don't think that I think all teens are this angsty. :)

**Author's Note II:** A few surprises in this one - you get to meet their son Landon, Finnick's son Magnus, and a surprise guest! Thanks for all the feedback so far!

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The first thought that crossed my mind was wondering how Miss Wallace might be able to show a clip of me hunting with a bow and arrow in class so that I could - by proxy - give this Grady boy a piece of my mind without resorting to actual violence. Sometimes the best fear tactic is the one that holds the most suggestion.

The second thought in my mind was how it was possible my daughter could care about a boy who had this kind of opinion, but I had a feeling it was less about the boy and more about how she was associated with "crazy".

I always appreciated that somehow through it all whatever Peeta and I both went through we were always seen as less crazy and more brave. Between the lives lost and the nightmares and the psychological damage through it all - even my actions against President Coin and Peeta's hijacking - we were called heroes and respected as much.

But this was different, this was a story associating craziness with our love and, in truth, was the most untruthful aspect of how Peeta and I came together in the end. It was important and it did bring us together, but anything dark and light about "star crossed lovers" had little to do with what makes me love him.

I glanced at Peeta while Madge reburied itself into her pillow. He had his thinking expression on - the one where I wasn't sure if he knew what to say or was going to say something brilliant.

But it would always be surprising.

"Madge Primrose Everdeen-Mellark," he said steadily and firmly.

The bundle of teenager we called our daughter took in a sharp breath and froze. It was a rare day when her father used that tone of voice and called her by her full name.

Someone was in trouble.

She raised her head slowly, trying to keep her sniffles in control as well.

Peeta and I have so far managed to raise some pretty well-behaved kids, but I'm always the one to be scared of - the firm one willing to ground them, rescind their desserts, add to their chores, and sometimes with a raised tone. I used this power only when necessary and very sparingly. Meanwhile I let Peeta occasionally slip them an apple tart and pretend I didn't notice. He was always better at the role of being sweet.

But every once in awhile, Madge and Landon have seen a moment when Peeta had drawn a line in the sand. A moment like this one.

I watched as Peeta looked at our daughter before shaking his head in disappointment, "How can you possibly be acting this way because of all this - because of that in particular? Any boy who is going to run away at the sight of a challenge doesn't deserve you. Your mother and I raised you to be strong and independent, knowing that you can be anyone and do anything you set your mind and your heart to. Crazy? The truth Madge is that anyone who has ever been anyone has been crazy."

In my head I wonder if he was going to add on us as examples of crazy, successful people - but that seemed to be going too far.

Madge sniffled as she said, "I know all that Dad."

"Then why are you crying about this?"

"All my life I've been Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen's daughter and I've been so proud, but I really thought he liked *me* - just me as Madge," she said softly. "And then all of a sudden I was Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen's daughter...the daughter of star-crossed lovers...and me - it didn't matter that he had been getting to know me."

"Madge..." I found myself saying. "Never, EVER think that."

"I know...I know it's not true..."

I stood up from the chair and sat on the bed next to her. My arms held her tightly and she held me back. And there she was - all of a sudden - my little girl. She could as well have been crying about losing her doll or needing a bandaid and not about her first broken heart.

"You want to know what else isn't true?"

"What?" she said softly.

I looked at Peeta as I said, "Star-crossed lovers...that's not true."

Before Madge could react, we heard Landon come home.

"Mom! Dad!"

"Wait - wait...what?" Madge began to say, but I could hear from the muffled voices below that it wasn't just Landon that had arrived.

Peeta began his descent downstairs, "Landon - is someone here with you? Did Magnus stop by?"

Magnus, Finnick and Annie's son, was by so often he was basically family. He had grown up in District 4, but began working in District 12 a few years after Landon was born. He had stayed in our house while looking for a more permanent residence, but he practically still lived here - falling asleep on our couch more often than not.

I heard Peeta's voice get softer as he descended the stairs, but I could make out all the words.

"Magnus, Landon...I see you've been out fishing with...Gale."


	4. Chapter 4 - The Past in the Present

**Chapter Four - The Past in the Present **

By Taygeta

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**Author's Note**: Thank you so much for all the great and positive feedback so far!

**Disclaimer:** These characters are not mine!

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"Gale...Gale Hawthorne? Your Gale?" said Madge.

I gave her a stern look. "Not my Gale."

But it was him...that Gale at least. Who else would it be?

At this point, Madge and I had made it to the top of the stairs to better hear the exchange downstairs. I was pretty sure I wasn't being the best role model by eavesdropping, but given Madge's outbursts earlier it seemed pretty thematic for the day.

"Peeta," I heard Gale say. Time had passed, but he still sounded the same. The voice that was both rough and soft at the same time - a note toward deadly, but sincerely kind.

There was a pause that must have been an exchange of hands.

"Hello Gale. What brings you back to District 12?"

"Magnus here needed my support in a project and I thought I'd make a visit where home used to be. After our meeting, we met up with Landon here who wanted to go fishing and - well - old habits die hard."

"No kidding," said Peeta. "There's enough fish here for a feast."

"I was worried we had overdone it, but Landon here tells me you had a fridge installed a long while back." I could almost see Gale shaking his head, "Homes in District 12 with refrigerators and freezers - who would have thought?"

"You've been gone a long time Gale," he replied. There was something in how he said the phrase. Something in his voice that meant more than refrigerators and freezers.

"I'll say! Landon here looks almost as tall as you."

"Growth spurt," Landon said. "The other month I was shortest kid in my class."

"You? I couldn't even imagine," said Gale good-naturedly.

And for a moment, the exchange with Landon reminded me of Gale's siblings. I wondered of his younger brothers and Posy. How they must look and how much older they must be now beyond my memory of them.

But of course, the inevitable in the conversation happened - the sound of Gale's voice asking, "How's Katniss?"

"She's upstairs," said Peeta. "I'll go get her."

I had just enough time to glance at the mirror and adjust my hair slightly, take in for a breath the woman he might no longer recognize with her burn scars and the slight wrinkles that had somehow crept their way onto her face. Truthfully I didn't really care what he thought of my appearance, I just needed the visual confirmation that we were both no longer who we used to be. Where had the time gone?

Not that I really needed reminders as I turned to look at the reassuring smile of my daughter, nearly as tall as I was.

"You look fine, Mom," Madge whispered, giving me a kiss on the cheek. "I'm the train wreck."

I smiled. Madge and Landon had Peeta's self-deprecating humor thankfully.

I heard Peeta's heavy footsteps on the stairs. He wasn't surprised to see me around the corner.

"Guess who's here," he said. He kissed me on the top of my forehead lightly and continued, "You should say 'hi'." He looked up at Madge, "You too."

"I'm...going to make myself look more presentable," she replied before heading to the bathroom.

"Did we get a reprieve from teenager meltdown parenting duties?" he said softly.

"God I hope so," I laughed.

"I heard that," said Madge, and before she closed the door, she added, "And don't think I've forgotten what you were telling me Mom..."

"Where were you going with that anyway?" he whispered.

"I just wanted her to know that we're more than that propaganda." I confessed, "I really hated that label. I know it saved us - and you - and I know it helped bring us together, but..."

"No label in the world could ever describe what you mean to me, Katniss," Peeta said knowingly. He kissed me softly and for a moment I forgot everything else going on the world. He reluctantly pulled away with a sigh and said, "You probably should go downstairs. I'll walk down with Madge."

I nodded. It was his way of saying that he also knew I had to face this conversation without him.

It felt like a long time walking down those stairs - like the weight of all the time that had passed. It's not that Gale and I had seen each other a handful of times over the years, but never for more than a few seconds, always at large events - always briefly.

But here he was, after all those years, in my home, in my home with Peeta. I knew that he had never married, that he had had a string of girlfriends over the years. For all the talk about possibly having kids, there had only ever been a rumor of a child a few years ago, but I don't know anything more than that.

I thought I could never forgive Gale about Prim, but as I grew older a part of me had to move on from that anger to let go. It would never make sense and never could. But as I walked down the stairs I wondered at what that type of forgiveness meant. It wasn't whole-hearted and pure, it wasn't of the variety that only Prim seemed to have the capacity to forgive.

I saw him before he saw me.

He looked like a television still - he might as well have been behind the screen as I had seen him. He was still so camera-ready.

"Hello Katniss," he said with a soft smile, his eyes flickering with the same youthful boy I met in the woods. "It's good to see you."

I wasn't quite sure yet if I felt the same.


	5. Chapter 5 - Telling Tales

**Chapter Five - Telling Tales**

by Taygeta

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**Disclaimer**: I do not have any ownership of The Hunger Games and its characters.

**Author's Note**: Would greatly appreciate reviews/feedbacks to know how everyone is liking this so far! Thanks for all who have commented! :)

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"Good to see you too," I said politely as I stepped off the staircase. They were seated in the living room and as I walked toward him, I was unsure of what to do. Shake his hand? Hug him? One was too formal and the other too close.

He didn't seem to know either, so I just sat in the couch across from him next to Magnus.

"Peeta tells me you and Magnus are working on a project? You could have called before you arrived," I found myself saying.

The Katniss that wanted to run away would have appreciated the warning; the Katniss that was older wanted to just have been more prepared.

"He didn't even want to stop by," Magnus said, putting his arm around me proudly, as if he had brought me the best surprise.

Yes - the best...ever...yay.

"Oh?" I said curiously.

"Yeah - he was just going to turn in at the Inn and then I said you guys would probably want to see him!"

Gale looked amused as he saw this exchange. I wondered at the expression that must be on my face. I was never very good at hiding my immediate emotions.

"How long has it been, huh?" said Magnus joyously. In his demeanor, I caught sight of a little bit of Finnick, of the father he never knew of but still resembled so much.

"Well, we've seen each other time and time before," I said awkwardly.

"Nearly 30 years," said Gale calmly.

I thought about it and I realized it was true.

"That long? What would you people do without me?!"

I thought, _not sit awkwardly in the living room wondering what to say to someone you haven't seen in thirty years._

Luckily Madge hadn't taken a long time to freshen up and she arrived in our living room brightly. She made a far more animated entrance. At which point I tried not to laugh because I realized that for girls Madge's age Gale was indeed a celebrity of sorts.

"Mr. Hawthorne, it's nice to meet you," she said, crossing the room to shake his hand. "I see you on TV all the time. You look just the same."

He laughed, "Please - no Mr. Hawthrone. Call me Gale."

Peeta and Landon walked in with a tray of pastries and coffee.

"I hope I'm not the cause of all this," said Gale as they walked in. "I just came in to say hello - not make myself at home."

"I wouldn't worry about it," said Madge matter-of-factly, "Magnus here does it all the time."

"Thanks Magpie," said Magnus as he elbowed Madge and attempted to mess with her hair that had just gotten back into place.

She glowered at the nickname. Magnus had arrived into town fresh out of university when Madge was about seven. She lived life then as if she was constantly in the running for being the loudest, most talkative and adventurous girl in all of Panem. In fact, she was probably still in the running for the title. Magnus was forever teasing Madge and had long ago gave her the nickname "Magpie" because she was such a loud chatterbox and so like a bird fluttering about.

"Magpie?" asked Gale. "It's like when I used to call Katniss - 'Catnip'."

Madge laughed, "Mom, you never told us that!"

I glanced over at my daughter who knew full well that I had never really told her anything about Gale at all - except that he, Peeta, and I had fought in the war together...which they would have learned in history class anyway.

Magnus explained the Magpie nickname and asked about the "Catnip" nickname.

"You know, I don't think I've actually heard this story either," thought Peeta out loud. He had sat down beside me after settling down the food. I gave him a look.

"Do you want to explain it or should I?" Gale offered.

"Oh, by all means..." I said, not feeling quite in the mood to spin old tales and getting the feeling that this was just the start of tale spinning.

I watched as Gale told the story of meeting me in the woods and my muffled voice and the wild cat that had followed me until I had to kill it. Thinking about that cat after all these years, I suddenly missed Buttercup who had died shortly after Madge had been born...almost as if she knew there was someone more important for me to watch over.

"Oh those were the days," said Gale good-naturedly.

"Oh yes, the starving and the desperation was quite wonderful," I said trying to sound funny, but succeeding only moderately.

Peeta made the save before there was a truly awkward pause, "Oh please, Katniss, you're not fooling anyone - you love those woods."

"Some things don't change then," said Gale smiling.

As all of this was happening, I kept on wondering what he was doing here and why he was still here.

"Where were you in all of this, Dad?" asked Landon.

"Well we know he wasn't hunting," giggled Madge who knew first-hand how loudly her father walked through a forest. The general Everdeen-Mellark woods outing that required hunting usually began with an almost automated request that he just sit by the lake - so he could relax of course.

"Oh, I was on the sidelines at the bakery. Watching these two adventure-types," he said. "Your mother hardly knew I was alive."

"I knew you were alive," I argued.

"Oh here we go again..." said Madge.

Peeta and I looked at her and he said, "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"The boy with the bread, the dandelion story. Mom used to tell me that story all the time. I'm surprised it didn't come up today in class."

"Did she now?" said Peeta.

"Wait - how come I never heard the boy with the bread/dandelion story?" asked Landon.

"You were more interested in adventure tales," I said.

Magnus put his cup of coffee down and said, "What is this story? This is not something they mention in the archives."

"I have to admit, I think I know the bread part, but I am very confused on what that has to do with dandelions," said Gale.

There was something in his tone, some kind of assumption of old friendship that I wasn't sure I wanted to acknowledge, but the setting was right for him to appear that way regardless of my opinion.

It was then that I realized everyone was looking at me expectantly.

"What?"

"Well, I'm not telling the story," said Peeta. "I've been telling you the bread wasn't a big deal for a long time."

I shook my head before I took a hold of his hand "Well then you shouldn't tell the story because you would tell it all wrong - it was always important. It will always be important."


	6. Chapter 6 - Bread and Dandelions

**Chapter Six - Bread and Dandelions**  
By Taygeta

* * *

**Disclaimer:** These characters are not mine.

**Author's Note**: Thank you for all the great comments, follows, and favorites so far! I appreciate them all and I hope you're enjoying this adventure as much as I am writing it! :)

* * *

I began at the beginning. I talked about losing my father, about my mother sinking into despair.

"Grandma?" asked Landon. "But she's so..."

"Strong," finished Madge.

I nodded, "Yes - she is. But losing my father - your grandfather - was a very difficult time for her. At the time, I didn't understand what that meant and I was so incredibly angry at her for leaving us mentally too. She loved him enough to leave her life and friends in town - she moved from that to living in the Seam. Looking back I think she must have been always strong to make that kind of decision, but my father was so much a part of her happiness." I smiled and looked at Landon and Madge, seeing a bit of my father in their faces, "I wish you two could have known him. Our book memories doesn't quite do him justice. In any case, it wouldn't be too difficult to see why when my father died, she was so lost. But like I said, I didn't understand...all I knew was that I had to keep us going."

I mentioned the compensation running out, the gap of time between that and the Tessarae. I talked about our starvation.

"You want wealth?" I said to my children. "Look at that pile of pastries and that coffee - that would have been some unfulfilled dream my entire childhood, but especially - especially that rainy day when I was selling Prim's worthless old baby clothes."

"After I rummaged through the trash and was yelled at by Peeta's mother, I just...gave up. I gave up trying. I was eleven and starving, trying to feed my sister and my mother, who had lost her sense. In my heart, I hadn't quite worked out the fact that my father was gone - but I didn't even have that luxury. I had stayed strong for Prim, but in that moment, the world was the darkest and I just - I just couldn't extend any more of myself."

I squeezed Peeta's hand and looked at him, but while still telling the story to the room, "And then in the middle of all that darkness and rain, there was this boy who burned the bakery bread, knowing full well he would get hit by his mother, to give me that bread."

"I love this part," Madge said with a girlish giddiness that reminded me of old bedtime stories when she was a little girl.

I smiled at her, but returned my gaze to the boy with the bread, "But you see, what he gave me was more than bread, he gave me hope when everything else was so dark. He was there when no one else seemed to be there."

A smile crossed Peeta's lips and something between modesty and appreciation and shyness reflected on his face. I don't often tell stories like these, don't often go into details with words like he can. But I was glad to - for my children to know this story and also to see the life in Peeta's eyes when something I did or said assured him how much I really did love him.

"So there's the bread, but where does the dandelion come in?" asked Landon, not quite caught up in the romance expressed in Madge's face.

"The bread was just the beginning. The bread saved us in that moment where I hit rock bottom. It took me in such a surprise that I actually didn't even realize until the next morning that he had probably done that entire thing on purpose. The next day when I passed by him, he didn't even notice me until the afternoon when I caught his eye for just a second and we both looked away." I looked back at Peeta. "Do you remember what happened when I looked away?"

Peeta replied, "You looked down and picked up a dandelion."

Magnus let out a cheering kind of laugh. We all looked at him and saw a goofy wide-grin, as if he had just been let in on a big secret, "There's that famous painting you made - The Girl with the Dandelion! You're the girl!"

"The Girl with the Dandelion" is one of Peeta's most popular paintings. He had painted a series on dandelions several years after we had settled back in District 12 and before the children were born. I knew who the girl in the painting was the moment I had seen it, but he had painted it in such a way that the girl could have been anyone with dark hair. It was from his perspective of seeing me look away - her braided hair was picked up a little by the wind, her hand reaching to pick that dandelion, but not quite nearly at it. So when you look at it, your body reacts as if almost wanting to pick the dandelion for her.

It's so popular a piece that Peeta had to yield to public demand that it be on display at the Panem National Art Gallery at the Capitol. Every year a number of people make requests to purchase it, but he always declines. It's not that we need the money anyway, but even if we did - I don't think he would have wanted to part with that one.

I laughed, "Well that was painted years after the fact and apparently the artist here had no idea what exactly that painting really entailed."

"Oh well then enlighten me!" said Peeta.

"The bread was a gift in a desperate moment, the dandelion was the hope I needed for the future."

I explained about remembering my father's lessons in gathering, the family plant book and our feast of dandelion salad.

"But that was all you," said Peeta dismissively of himself.

"No. It wasn't! Can't you see, Peeta? Without the bread, I wouldn't have been able to see the dandelion for all the good that could be," I replied. "I would never have gotten to that moment without you, would never have stepped into those woods to learn how to hunt..."

There was a silence in the room. It didn't take much "History of the Hunger Games" to know how important those hunting skills were to my survival in those games and subsequently Peeta's.

It was Gale who broke the silence, "It seems, Peeta, that it was always you that she needed to survive."

I caught the recognition of those words in Peeta's face. I knew I wasn't supposed to know the reference, but I felt an odd blush creep my cheeks as I recalled the exchange that I had eavesdropped on while beneath a bundle of fur in a crawlspace. I had been so angry at the time, not understanding Gale's words about survival, too caught up in life and death missions to truly understand what it means to survive.

"Oh let's not give me so much credit," Peeta said lightly. "You're a part of her survival too, Gale - our survival."


	7. Chapter 7 - Ghosts

**Chapter 7 - Ghosts **  
**By Taygeta**

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**Disclaimer:** These characters are not mine.

**Author's Note**: Thanks for the great feedback. I especially loved writing this chapter, hope you guys enjoy it!

* * *

The moment I heard Peeta's words about Gale, about how important he was for our survival, I knew it was true. The story of our togetherness could never be pulled apart from the man sitting in my living room, a man who was now more stranger than an old friend.

I thought about Madge and Landon, how they hardly knew him as well, how he was more known to them as a celebrity on television and a name in a history book than as someone who was integral to why they had a mother and a father.

I could hear Prim's voice in my head, wise and pleading: _But don't you see, Katniss? This is what happens when you can't forgive - when you let the dark overcome the good. His mind came up with the idea, but he would never have used it like Coin. He would never do that to me; he would never do that to you. And haven't we all learned by now? Things dealing with war are never easy, because it can never make full sense._

"It's true," I found myself saying.

The expression on Gale's face was more surprise than any other emotion.

I turned away from him to look at Madge and Landon, "After Gale and I met - and got over our suspicions and competitive nature about the other - we really helped each other out. We traded together, hunted together, and fed our families better by working with each other..." I hesitated before adding, "He was my best friend..." I wasn't sure if I needed to add "at the time" but given that they hadn't met him until today, it didn't quite seem all that necessary.

Landon turned to Gale and said, "I learned in class last year that it was your idea to 'crack the nut' in District 2."

Gale nodded, there was something in this reference that caused his features to soften, as if he understood that day differently than when he had lived it. "That's right. Unfortunately, a lot of lives were lost, but it was one of the strategic moments that helped us win the war."

"Was that a hard decision - or idea - when you thought about it?" asked Madge.

"It wasn't as it should have been at the time," he said honestly. "Your mom and I had some strong disagreements about all of it. Looking back, I know how important it was, but I've spent some time since having to deal with the ghosts that come out of those decisions."

"Is that why you two lost touch?" asked Magnus. "The war?"

President Coin's strategic use of the parachute bombs was not really known except for between Haymitch, Peeta, Gale, and I. My sister's death was officially labeled as a casualty of war, technically true despite its lack of honesty. After I had killed President Coin, the reasoning all stemmed from my insanity and my incapacity. As Coin had only just become President because she led the war effort, there hadn't been much backlash or love lost - even in District 13 for that matter. It was rolled up in our continuous desire to move on and move ahead, in a world that was empty of the Capitol that walked upright on our backs and sweat. For all of Coin's efforts to grasp onto glory, her lasting fame was more tied now to how I had killed her than how she had been a part of our victory. The story of our victory, of course, is laid out as the efforts of many individuals even if I had been the Mockingjay.

Gale responded, "Many things about the war. War changes people and how we see the world. And after it was all over, there wasn't much for me to come back to here and by that point Katniss and I were a long way away from hunting trips in the woods and trading squirrels for pieces of bread."

I smiled, "Peeta's dad loved those squirrels though. It was how Peeta knew I could shoot in the first games."

"You mean it was how I knew you could shoot...with deadly accuracy," said Peeta.

"The baker - Peeta's dad - used to trade us for squirrel. It was his favorite," said Gale. "Your mom and I had a whole system worked out on who to trade with when we had certain kills. We always knew he loved a good squirrel."

"Dad would always compliment how your mom could shoot them straight in the eye." There was a wistful look in his eyes, what began as probably a memory of telling Haymitch about my "deadly accuracy" continued on into a sea of memories of his father, the sweet baker who never lived to meet our children and spoil them with cookies. "He would have loved you two."

I remembered how Peeta once said that his father wished he had daughters instead of so many boys, about how he really liked me and Prim. I remember the cookies that he had so kindly given me that I had so angrily tossed out of that train car and instead of feeling satisfied for my anger, they landed on dandelions. And in that moment I truly wished that in the living room right then and there were my father and Peeta's father, watching over their grandchildren and telling their own tales they never got to say.

But in came the next best thing, my mother arrived home.


	8. Chapter 8 - The Mellarks

**Chapter 8 - The Mellarks**

By Taygeta

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**Disclaimer**: These characters are not mine.

**Author's Note**: In this chapter, everyone learns about the Mellarks - Margaret Dodge and Joseph Mellark. I hope you like my made-up history of Peeta's parents. Please R&R and let me know what you think!

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My mother must have walked in the back door near the kitchen, because her first words were "Why is there a cooler of fish in the kitchen?"

She paused in the living room, her eyes taking in Gale.

"Gale..." she said. "What on earth are you doing here?"

Gale stood up and gave my mother a hug, "Mrs. Everdeen, it's so good to see you again. Magnus and I are working on a government initiative and we went fishing with Landon this afternoon. They convinced me to stop by."

"That explains the fish," she said with a smile. "It's so good to see you."

I could feel her eyes not wanting to meet mine. I never told her what happened, why Gale and I stopped speaking. Much of it happened while she was in District 4 and by the time she had returned to District 12 for her grandchildren it was ancient history and not worth mentioning. Or perhaps she just knew better not to ask. In the end, I don't think I could have told her because it would have meant having to tell her about Prim.

"Come on in, Mom, we're just sharing old stories," I said.

Her eyes glanced up at me, taking in the situation by my face, as she took a seat next to Gale, "Oh? Any stories in particular?"

At this point, Madge went to hug her tightly and dramatically before remaining on the edge of seat next to her grandmother.

"What's this all about?"

"Mom was telling us about grandfather," she said softly.

A sad expression crossed my mother's face briefly, but she smiled, "He was a wonderful man. I wish you could have known him - he would have probably spoiled you rotten though."

"Can you tell us some stories about him?" asked Landon. He looked at Peeta, who often didn't mention his father in detail, and added, "And maybe Dad's Dad if you know any?"

I knew this was a hard subject for my mother and tried to intervene, "Oh I'm sure Grandma's really tired from her day. She just got home too..."

"Oh no, Katniss, it's fine - they should hear about their grandfathers..."

"And what about Dad's Mom?" asked Madge.

My mother pursed her lips and said with some hesitation, "...and their other grandmother."

I could feel Peeta settling a little more into the couch, waiting to hear the stories. I wondered if he would know them. I wondered if he was thinking that too. And what would I learn in all this? My mother wasn't necessarily harboring these stories all these years - it was likely she had never been asked, but she was the only lifeline to my father and Peeta's parents at this point. I'm sure she didn't want to tell these stories, but who else could?

"Let's see - Peeta's mother Margaret was adopted into a merchant family..."

Peeta became unsettled from the couch and sat up straight, "What?"

"You didn't know?" my mom asked. I think a part of her hoped that he did, but also knew the possibility that he didn't was also probable.

"No...she always talked - berated, really - about how lucky we were to be in a baking family and how we always had enough to eat. I never thought that was because she did without...?"

"Well, I didn't know your mother too well," said my mother, honestly, "but it was no secret growing up that your mother had been adopted into a wealthier family. I think rumor has it that her mother had been very young, Madge's age even - "

Thankfully for us at this point my fifteen-year-old daughter had a look of horror cross her face that told us not to worry about repeating family history.

"...and couldn't take care of her. For awhile she had lived in the children's home until she was adopted by a carpenter family named Dodge. They couldn't have their own kids, Mrs. Dodge had been ill and it wasn't known until later that it made her infertile. That isn't to say your mother was from the Seam...just very likely that her own grandparents didn't want to recognize her given her mother's...indiscretions."

"I - they never told us this," said Peeta flabbergasted.

"Well...I doubt she wanted you to know. The Dodges were a well-respected carpenter family and she was adopted young enough that most people didn't think about it too much that she wasn't born a Dodge. She was a couple of years younger than me in school and, as the only child, terribly spoiled. But I think a part of it was because they wanted to help her forget how her life started. I know she wasn't the kindest woman, Peeta," said my mother, "and I don't think you should excuse her of that because of any of this news, but she was much more...complicated than I guess you might have imagined."

Landon and Madge appeared confused.

"What was she like then?" asked Landon, almost afraid to ask.

My mother and Peeta looked at each other, unsure of who should take over this part of the story.

Finally, Peeta spoke, "My mother was very strict and raised us with a - um - heavy hand. I mean, you both know the story about the bread. I always thought she raised us that way because my father was the complete opposite and she thought that's how she had to be, to make sure she got her point across. But maybe it's because she needed to show her place in the world. I'd never say it was ever right for her to be that way, but maybe after all your grandmother has said today about her past I understand her a little better."

"I'm sorry, Dad," said Madge softly.

Peeta gave a reluctant smile and turned to my mother, "I think we should continue on Mrs. Everdeen..."

She nodded, "Peeta's dad Joseph Mellark came from a baking family. The Mellarks have been bakers in District 12 for as long as I can remember. He and I were in the same grade in school. We were never close friends, but all the town kids generally stuck together so we knew each other. In junior high, people said he had a little crush on me - which the whole world found out about during the Hunger Games when your father told your mother the story of when he first fell in love with her..."

"Wait - what? I never learned that story in history class!" said Landon.

Madge turned to her brother and said, "Wait until Grade 11 - then you don't want to learn it because it's your parents and everyone is either groaning or awwing." She paused before adding in a wise tone, "It may also affect your love life."

I tried my best not to laugh at the severity in which she emphasized the last line.

"You're fifteen, Magpie - what kind of love life do you have?" said Magnus teasingly.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she said sitting up stiffly.

Magnus turned to Peeta, "Breaking hearts already, huh? Gonna set Katniss on them?"

"Don't need to," he replied. "History class has us covered."

The room laughed as Madge yelled out "DAD!" in a huff.

"I"m just kidding, sweetheart," said Peeta. "Your mother has it covered."

I laughed at her glowering expression before settling the room down, "Landon, we'll get to the story of your father's ridiculous romantic side later. Mom - you want to continue?"

She smiled widely and thought about where she left off, "So yes, Joseph Mellark had a bit of a crush on me, but I always thought of him as a friend and nothing more. I had no desire to be a baker's wife either, the idea never struck me as something I wanted to be. But Joseph Mellark was probably one of the kindest people I ever had the pleasure to know. I have no doubt that if he had been the one to see Katniss instead of Margaret on that rainy day, that story might have been different - that perhaps he would have handed Peeta the bread himself to give away."

I could feel Peeta squeeze my hand, in that touch I knew that he believed that about his father too.

"I know this sounds terrible, but how did someone like Grandfather Joseph marry Grandmother Margaret?" said Madge in an almost whisper, fearing that she was being blasphemous.

I was thankful for the innocent way she presented the question because I was pretty sure everyone else in the room was dying to know but wasn't sure how to ask.

My mother replied, "Well...I can't say for sure...but don't get me wrong. Margaret was always very proud and she was at times severe, but she wasn't a terrible person. I like to think that Peeta's father married his mother because his kindness saw something in her that others didn't. Her own parents had been older when they had taken her in, after they had realized eventually that they would never have children on their own. So she was left on her own not soon after she had finished school and by then Joseph was working to take over the family business. He was the only son and his sister had gotten married a few years before. I think he knew he could take care of her and they loved each other in their own right. They really did balance each other out, one stronger than the other in ways that made up for the other person. If she hadn't been around, Joseph's kindness would have probably run him out of business, and without his kindness it would have been difficult to have done business with them...no matter how spectacular the bread."

I added a memory of Peeta's father to the evening, "On the day that your father and I became Tributes for that first Hunger Games, Grandfather Joseph actually stopped by to see me. He gave me a packet of cookies and promised to make sure that your Aunt Prim had food. And all I could do was thank him and say something stupid about how his trade with Gale earlier that day hadn't been his best."

Gale smiled, "You would say that. It was reaping day! You were one of the Tributes with his son!" He gestured widely in Peeta's direction. For a second it almost felt like were having one of our old conversations in the woods where no one could listen.

"I know...but I didn't expect to see him! I didn't know what to say!"

"Did you know that, Dad?" asked Landon.

"Your mother told me about it later. I didn't know that he had gone to see her. I suspected he might - he had two packets of cookies in his hands and he had given one to me. I thought, maybe, the other one he had given to Prim. My mother knew your mother had a chance to win, that District 12 might have a victor in her and wasn't shy about telling me that. But when my mother said good-bye to me, she said all these things really quickly. She told me she loved me and wished me luck - very straight and proper - and was out the door. You see, she didn't like to show emotions she thought were weak," said Peeta.

Most of these details I knew, but these next I had no idea. I don't know if he ever meant to tell me.

"My brothers left with my mother. My father stayed behind for the rest of that time allotted. He probably thought the same thing about who might win, but he didn't say so. He knew something my mother didn't. He knew how much I already loved this girl who was being sent in as a Tribute too. When I was little, I'd always tell him about my day and I'd always tell him about the girl in the plaid dress, the girl who sang and could make the birds stop and listen. He's the only one I could ever talk to about that - my brothers would have made fun of me and none of my friends were particularly close and were always teasing me about town girls. In a lot of ways, he was one of my best friends."

"So he had known for years before the whole of Panem knew, before your mother knew. And so on that reaping day, he told me, 'Son, I know this is probably the last time I will see you. It's not because I think you don't stand a chance in winning - everyone stands some chance and we raised you up strong - but I already know that you are going to do some stupid and reckless things to make sure that Katniss Everdeen is the one that comes out alive. Just know that whatever stupid, reckless things you are going to do, I will be the proudest father in all of Panem because I know I raised a boy who had the capacity to love someone more than himself. I know that I raised you up to be a good man.'"


	9. Chapter 9 - Family

**Chapter 9 - Family**  
by Taygeta

* * *

Disclaimer: The characters are not mine.

Author's Note: Thank you for all the love so far! I appreciate all your feedback, favorites, and alerts.

* * *

There was a hush in the room. If Buttercup had still been alive, he wouldn't have even dared to chase a mouse if it had appeared.

"Peeta..." I said, "You never told me that. I always liked your father - I wish, I wish I knew that when he was alive."

He shrugged, "He probably wouldn't have wanted you to know. Before he died, he saw you as family...so that's all that mattered to him. Maybe all those years talking about you, he probably always saw you as family - or hoped...maybe... "

I grinned widely, "...that we'd end up just like we did?"

He smiled too and leaned down to give me a kiss.

I heard Madge tell Landon, "See - this is going to really suck when you're in high school."

Peeta ignored this and continued, "He was so happy when you and I got engaged, that I didn't have the heart to tell him that It wasn't really true."

"Peeta!" I said. "You did NOT."

My mother added, "I didn't have the heart to tell him either."

Madge was beginning to sound less of a Magpie and more like a Parrot: "Wait...what?! Are you guys not married?!"

Peeta and I laughed. Our getting married was a story in and of itself.

"No, Madge, your father and I have been happily married for almost twenty years," I said. "Before the war, your dad and I had to publically get engaged way before we should have, hoping it might make things more peaceful in the districts. Luckily it didn't or we wouldn't be here."

I looked at my mother and suddenly thought to myself that I never considered how she must have seen me and Peeta...and all the "playing to the audience" we were doing trying to ease the tension of the uprisings.

"What happened?" I asked. "When would you have even talked to Peeta's dad about any of it?"

"I knew that there was something not sincerely genuine about it all." She looked up at Peeta, "I mean I believed you entirely, but I knew that Katniss - with the Reaping and the Hunger Games - had always been fairly adamant about not settling down."

I was glad my mother was skimming over the part where I wasn't yet sure how I cared about Peeta.

I glanced over at Gale who had a knowing look on his face, remembering conversations no longer true. All the evidence that proved that was sitting in the living room with us, fifteen and thirteen. If the world had been different, my wonderful babies wouldn't be here. I was so glad the world became as it did.

"But while you two were at the Capitol after the engagement was announced, I was in town buying bread. With Peeta out of town, we went to the bakery for bread. Usually I just had Prim run that errand on the way home from school, but there was a day when she had to be in school longer. I came into the bakery the middle of the morning and Joseph was placing loaves of bread onto the shelves...

'Anne, well you are a sight for sore eyes!'

'Joseph, it's good to see you. Where's Margaret?'

'Oh, she's doing some shopping in the market. Better send her than me - she's better at haggling than I am! What can I do for you?'

'Well, with Peeta in the Capitol, we are lacking our regular supply of bread.'

Joseph laughed, 'I'm glad to know how much business he has been taking away from me.'

'Only in cheese buns - which are Katniss' favorite.'

'Of course. So I suppose we'll be in-laws soon?'

I didn't know what to say then, I was waiting until Katniss and Peeta came back to really understand anything - if there was anything to understand about it all. There was also this beaming look on his face that I remember so well.

'I suppose so...you don't think they're too young?'

'Well I'm hoping it'll be some time yet before they actually get married, but you never know with the Capitol. But you know Peeta loves her very much and I think that's most important.'

'Oh Peeta loving Katniss is never something I'd ever question.'

'It feels right, you know, having Katniss has part of our family...and you and Prim too,' he said.

"And what can you say with that?" said my mother. "What can you say? So I told him that I felt the same about their family." She looked over at Peeta and continued, "And I wasn't lying."

Peeta smiled, "I think he would have been very happy with the way things turned out - at the family he could have had." His eyes looked at Madge and Landon who were trying not to grin too widely.

"He said to me, 'I wish Landon was here to see it all too. He would have been pretty proud,'" said my mother, referring not to my son, but who he was named after...my father. "He was probably right about that too."


	10. Chapter 10 - The Everdeens

**Chapter 10 - The Everdeens**  
by Taygeta

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Author's Note: Thank you to all who gave me such encouraging feedback on Chapter 9!

Disclaimer: These characters are not mine.

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Without even needing a cue, my mother began to talk about my father.

"I met Landon Everdeen in school," she smiled automatically, her eyes gazing inward at some far off memory. "He was two years ahead of me and I didn't notice him until he came into the apothecary to sell us plants. He was 16. I was 14."

I glanced at Gale. He looked at me. That age gap was familiar. I looked away, but the story was still familiar in a way.

"At first he saw me as kind of a nuisance, but I always had a crush on him," she smiled. She turned to her grandchildren and added, "Your father once told your mother during the games that the reason I fell in love was because I had heard your grandfather sing...and all the birds stopped to listen. That was part of the truth. I loved to hear him sing. It wasn't why I fell in love with him, but it was how I knew I could never love anyone else.

"When I was sixteen, he began to see me a little differently. I know because he asked me to go for a walk, but not over the fence because back then our Headkeeper was really strict and only the bravest - your grandfather being one of them - could really head out into the woods and behind that fence.

"So we walked and it was quiet, but you could hear the birds in the trees. At some point, he reached for my hand...and I let him," my mother said, almost shyly - as if she was sixteen again. "At some point on that walk, he began to sing in this most beautiful voice. I only ever heard him sing little pockets of melodies around the apothecary and school, but I had never heard him sing out loud like that - as if no one was watching...or maybe as if he wanted me to be the only one to hear."

"What did he sing?" I asked.

My mother began to sing an old melody:

_Walk in the forest_  
_Trees up above_  
_Sunlight beams down_  
_On both us, Love_  
_Walk in the forest_  
_Stay with me here_  
_Until moonlight,_  
_My Darling,_  
_Appears_

Catching my mother's voice in the quiet of a listening crowd, I wondered how much my ability to sing was also because of her.

Madge smiled, "Did he mean those words to you?"

My mother smiled back, "I have no direct confirmation, but I think so."

"What did your parents think?" asked Peeta.

My mother lifted her eyebrows, "They...weren't very happy. I mean, they liked Landon for his own sake, but they wanted me to marry someone in the merchant class."

My grandparents had passed away long before I was born, the apothecary had gone with it when my mother had left to be with my father. Aside from not liking my father being from the Seam, I had never heard anything badly about them. Not even from my own father when he was alive. He talked about my mother's parents fondly.

"But there wasn't much they could do when I turned 18 and married Katniss' father," she continued.

"What happened with them after you got married?" asked Landon.

"They were there for the toasting and sadly passed away before Katniss was born. A terrible fever had swept through District 12 and since they were trying to treat them, they unfortunately contracted it and it was only a week or so that they passed with it. I was there by their side - me and your grandfather. My mother held onto his hand and told him that she was glad to know he would be there to take care of me."

It suddenly struck me the impact of my mother saying these words. With her parents gone so early, my father was all she had to take care of her. She had mourned her parents and less than ten years later she had to mourn her husband.

I tried to envision myself as my mother then. Parents gone. Husband gone. My two children relying on just me to take care of them when everyone else I had loved in the world had gone. I felt the weight of blame lift from my chest a bit, the weight I held toward my mother during those terrible, terrible months when Prim and I had lost her.

I found myself squeezing Peeta's hand tightly. His eyes looked at me with concern, but I just moved an inch closer to him, just needed to reassure myself that he was there.


	11. Chapter 11 - Tomorrow in the Yesterday

**Chapter 11 - Tomorrow in the Yesterday**  
By Taygeta

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**Disclaimer**: The characters are not mine.

**Author's Note: **Figured it was time to switch gears a little.. :)

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I heard Gale yawn and looked over at him as he glanced at his watch. "Oh, is it that late?"

I half-wondered if he was making this excuse up, tired of storytelling until Magnus chimed in with "It's nearly eleven and we have that meeting early in the morning."

And then I remembered that it was also Landon and Madge's bedtimes, "And two people have school in the morning."

"Do we have to? You haven't even gotten to the big story! The story about why you and dad aren't star-crossed lovers!" said Madge.

This caused Gale, Magnus, and my mother to raise their eyebrows. Landon just looked confused.

"How about we take this up again tomorrow night?" said Peeta. "Maybe after dinner?" I watched as my husband, ever the diplomatic one, add on, "Gale...Magnus - you'll join us?"

Gale looked at me for a second before saying, "Looking forward to it."

Magnus laughed as he stood up to stretch, "I get the feeling fish will be on the menu."

"Oh I think that's probably a given," said my mother, thinking momentarily at the fish in the kitchen...probably wondering what we'd make with it.

There were various handshakes and hugs as Magnus and Gale took their leave. Until it finally came down to me and Gale saying good-bye.

"See you tomorrow," he said, reaching his arm out over my shoulder for a half-hug. I was reminded of hunting trips in the forest and conversations between the boy and the girl we used to be.

I nodded, leaning in slightly, but not too closely, "See you tomorrow."

There was the usual clamor of Madge and Landon getting ready for bed. Madge had a couple chapters of a book to read before she turned in, but Landon was out like a light.

It was late, but me, Peeta, and my mother stood in the kitchen nursing mugs of warm milk.

"Well that was...unexpected," said my mother finally.

I nodded, "Magnus - uh - thought he'd pleasantly surprise us by bringing our old friend Gale over since he happened to be in town."

"Was it pleasant?" she asked.

I shrugged, "It wasn't awful. If anything it was kind of nice for Madge and Landon to hear about the past and learn about how important Gale was."

The word "was" turned in my mind a bit. Was that really all in the past? Was he really just here and would he soon come back tomorrow?

"Thank you, by the way, Mrs. Everdeen for the stories of my parents and yours and Mr. Everdeen," added Peeta.

She smiled softly as she wrapped her wrinkled hands around her warm mug, "Oh no, thank you, for reminding me to tell those stories. It was important for the children to hear...and you and Katniss too."

And then I did something I didn't usually do, and as time wore on, hadn't done in a long time.

I reached out and gave my mother a hug.

"It was nice to remember, Dad - and you," I said.

I felt her hand pat my head softly, "Oh I remember him all the time, Katniss...all the time."

Later, when Peeta and I had slipped into bed, I thought I'd feel the weight of the day sink into my body, but as Peeta's hand rested on my side and my fingers wrapped around his, I was wide awake.

In the dark, I finally said, "You just had to invite him over tomorrow, didn't you?"

He laughed quietly, pulling me closer to him. My ear tickled with his soft voice, "What did you expect me to do? Oh let's all talk tomorrow - oh hey...nice seeing you Gale! Let's meet up in another 30 years!"

"I know and tonight was okay, but..."

"You're wondering when it's all going to sink in?" he finished.

I nodded, turning to look at him.

He admitted, "Me too. But you know Katniss, it was a long time ago and I've always known it wasn't his fault. You took down the person who was at fault."

"I know. A part of me forgave him with time. I think it was the only way I could do it, until he became more of a memory than someone who was my best friend. I could never have done it when the War was over, there was just too much...Prim."

"And what did time give you?"

I smiled, leaning my forehead against his, kissing him softly. "You...Madge...Landon. Time even gave me back my mother. And for Finnick's sake, let's just throw in Magnus."

"Oh good-hearted Magnus," said Peeta as I turned away from him, settling back into the bed. I heard Peeta's voice continue, "You know, his father would have done the same thing, except..."

"Knowingly put us all together to try and get us back together," I said and then paused. "You don't think..."

"Sweetheart," said Peeta, now with a tone edging slightly toward Haymitch's sarcastic nature. "I wouldn't put it past him."

I sighed, but truthfully, it was nice remembering Finnick. It seemed right given everything tonight.

"Well, Finnick would be proud," Peeta said in a normal tone, "Magnus has us all meeting up again tomorrow."

As I fell asleep, I wondered what tomorrow might mean.


End file.
